Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey will have a runner in the May 20 Preakness Stakes for the first time in 10 years when he saddles Perform in the second jewel of the Triple Crown.
Month: May 2023
After Preakness, Maryland Racing Will Return To Laurel, But For How Long?
Pimlico, the home of a Triple Crown race, is rundown and needs to be torn down and rebuilt. Its sister track, Laurel isn't in much better shape. To have two tracks in such condition does not make for a sustainable model for the future of Maryland racing, a problem that track owners and politicians have been trying solve for more than a decade.
But the latest round of give-and-take appears to have yielded a solution. Money once earmarked for a rebuild of both Pimlico and Laurel is expected to be used solely to rebuild Pimlico and to create a racing facility worthy of hosting the middle jewel of the Triple Crown. But there won't be any money left over for Laurel, which likely means the track is nearing the finish line.
The scenario has shifted dramatically since 2019 when the Stronach Group, which operates both Maryland tracks, was hoping to rebuild Laurel and close Pimlico. That would have meant moving the GI Preakness S. to Laurel. That led to the city of Baltimore filing suit against the Stronach Group trying to block them from closing Pimlico.
Under political pressure to keep Pimlico open, track ownership pivoted and along with horseman, breeders, political leaders and others, got behind a new plan. In May of 2020, The Racing and Community Development Act (RCDA) of 2020 was signed into law by then Governor Larry Hogan and on the surface, it seemed to be the answer to all of Maryland's problems. The legislation called for the Maryland Stadium Authority to issue up to $375 million in bonds that were earmarked to pay for a rebuild of both tracks. The Preakness was going to stay in Baltimore, Pimlico was not going to close and the Stronach Group would be able to go forward with its plans to have a new and improved Laurel as the centerpiece of the Maryland racing circuit.
“This is a very important day in the future of Maryland racing,” Alan Foreman, general counsel for the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, said when the legislation was signed into law.
And then the world shut down.
Within weeks of the RCDA being signed, COVID-19 was in full throttle and that meant that nothing was going to happen anytime soon when it came to building new racetracks in the state.
It's been a bit more than three years since the RCDA legislation was approved and the pandemic is a thing of the past. But, when it comes to Pimlico and Laurel, time has stood still. Untouched, they remain in the same poor condition that they were in 2020. No shovels have hit the ground and not a penny of government money has been spent to improve either track.
The problem is that the bill that was signed in 2020 is no longer a viable solution in 2023. Three years later, the $375 million originally budgeted to rebuild both tracks is not nearly enough to pay for the projects. By some estimates, due to inflation, the cost to rebuild both tracks has doubled. Additionally, rising interest rates have led to the bonds being worth less.
“Almost to the day that the RCDA was signed by governor the world shut down and COVID hit,” said Alan Rifkin, an attorney who represents the Stronach Group in Maryland. “Nothing was happening. When the world re-opened, interest rates and inflation went through the roof. The inflationary spiral was so substantial that things like lumber, concrete and steel cost 20 to 30% more right after COVID than they had been previously. The other problem is that the $375 million we estimated would only produce today about $220 million in proceeds. As you pay more in interest to bond holders, there's less in the proceeds after interest payments are made. From the interest rate spiral and the inflationary spiral, that has meant that there is not enough money to do both Laurel and Pimlico. No matter how much you stretch the blanket, the blanket cannot cover the entire bed. That is the problem.”
But there should be enough money to rebuild one of the tracks, and everything points to that being Pimlico and not Laurel. Pimlico will be spared because that is what the city and the state politicians want, since a new track and a Triple Crown race remains a big part of the fabric of Baltimore. And its apparent that without the blessing of political leaders in the state there is no way that the money needed to rebuild one track or the other would be made available to the Stronach Group.
“The legislature and the Governor's office, the powers that be, have directed the parties to prioritize Pimlico,” Rifkin said. “We understand that there is not enough money to do both capital projects. The policy makers have instructed all of us in the industry working on this to prioritize Pimlico. We know that as a fact.”
“If there is going to be any redevelopment of the racetracks in Maryland, Pimlico has to be locked into that,” Foreman said. “That's because of the Preakness and because of the importance of the racetrack to the city of Baltimore. They are inextricably linked.”
Closing Laurel would solve some problems, but also create some others, namely what to do with all the horses stabled there. The Pimlico backstretch is not big enough to handle the state's horse population. A new training center that could accommodate as many as 1,000 horses would need to be built. Rifkin said that keeping Laurel open as a training facility is not likely to happen.
Mage | Jim McCue
Another issue may be the vision the Stronach Group has for a Maryland racing circuit with just one track. Rifkin maintains that the current structure, which includes year-round racing, is not economically viable. Not only does he want to see just one track, he wants to see a shorter racing season. That is something that could lead to a contentious relationship with horsemen.
“I don't think it should come as a surprise to anyone that operating two racing facilities 20 miles apart from one another is not conducive to profitability or, for that matter, sustainability under the current circumstances,” he said. “That is why we continue to raise the question of industry-wide restructuring in an effort to right size the number of facilities and right size the number of racing days in order to best ensure a viable, sustainable and profitable racing industry for years to come.”
Those are problems for another day. The emphasis now is on hitting the reset button on a project that would give Maryland racing a quality, modern facility that works for such a big event as the Preakness. With there still being a number of issues that have to be resolved before construction can begin on a new track, it's not clear what the timeline might be.
“There have been so many estimates so far as when a new Pimlico would be up and running,” Foreman said. “There was a time that people were estimating it would be ready for this year's Preakness. And as you know, the wrecking ball hasn't hit the grandstand yet. During construction Laurel will have to be operating during the time it will takes to construct a new Pimlico. I don't think the wrecking ball will hit Pimlico until a plan has been established for the racing industry in terms of year-round racing. That means that a training center site will have to be identified and plans for it will have to be developed. It's conceivable that construction could start after the Preakness next year, but a lot of work will have to be done between now and then to accommodate that happening.”
No matter when it happens, the future of Maryland racing is set to look nothing like the present. Pimlico is the more celebrated of the two tracks because it is the home of the Preakness, but Laurel has quite a history of its own. It opened on Oct. 2, 1911. In 1952, they ran the first ever Washington D.C. International, the first U.S. race that sought horses from overseas and it soon became one of the biggest events on the calendar. In 1984, the track was sold to Frank J. De Francis and his partners, Robert and John “Tommy” Manfuso, who brought several innovative improvements to Laurel.
But progress needs to be made in Maryland and most agree that the only way that will happen is if Laurel is razed and that a new Pimlico becomes the centerpiece of the future of Maryland racing.
The post After Preakness, Maryland Racing Will Return To Laurel, But For How Long? appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5 Features Action From Belmont, Churchill, Monmouth
The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) will host a Cross Country Pick 5 on Saturday with racing from Belmont Park, Churchill Downs and Monmouth Park.
The Cross Country Pick 5 requires bettors to pick the winner of five select races from tracks across the country. The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is available on ADW platforms and at simulcast facilities across the country with each week featuring a mandatory payout of the net pool. The Cross Country Pick 5, boasting a low 15 percent takeout, offers sequences with races from Belmont Park and partner tracks across the country.
Saturday's sequence kicks off in Race 8 at 4:22 p.m. Eastern at Churchill Downs with a 5 1/2-furlong turf allowance for fillies and mares led by the stakes-placed Numero Seis, who will make her seasonal debut for trainer Joe Sharp. The Frosted sophomore graduated in September at this distance over the Saratoga Race Course turf and followed 12 days later with a third-place finish in the Untapable at Kentucky Downs. The overflow field includes last-out maiden winners Secret Money for trainer Brendan Walsh and All That for Brad Cox.
Action switches to Monmouth [Race 9, 4:35 p.m.] for the second leg featuring a similar 5 1/2-furlong turf allowance for fillies and mares. The wide-open affair includes the multiple stakes-placed Captainsdaughter, who has banked $350,198 for trainer Russell Cash; the French-bred Anna Karenine for four-time Eclipse Award-winning conditioner Chad Brown; and Michael Dini's Explosive Exchange, who turns back in distance from a pair of placings in one-mile turf tilts at Tampa Bay Downs.
The middle leg will see a field of 11 optional-claimers 3-years-old and up battle seven furlongs over Belmont's Widener turf [Race 10, 5:43 p.m.] featuring the streaking Runningwscissors. The David Jacobson trainee, a 7-year-old New York-bred son of Congaree, has posted back-to-back turf sprint scores led by a last-out open optional-claiming win that garnered a 94 Beyer Speed Figure. Into the Sunrise, a 5-year-old Into Mischief gelding trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, is a four-time turf winner; while King Angelo, who has hit the board in 7-of-10 turf tries, returns to the green for trainer Jorge Abreu.
The penultimate leg returns to Churchill Downs for the Grade 3 Louisville [Race 11, 5:58 p.m.], a 12-furlong turf marathon for older horses that drew a strong field of 11 topped by multiple graded-stakes winning millionaire Tiz the Bomb.
The 4-year-old Hit It a Bomb colt, trained by Kenny McPeek, boasts graded scores in the 2021 Grade 2 Bourbon at Keeneland and last year's Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks over the Turfway Park synthetic. He earned a Grade 1-placing when closing to finish second in the 2021 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. A talented field includes millionaire aspirant Therapist [39-12-4-8 $970,475], a New York-bred who made the grade last out in the Grade 2 Pan American for trainer Michael Maker, besting returning rival Bay Street Money by three-quarters of a length in the 12-furlong test for older horses at Gulfstream Park.
The sequence concludes in Race 11 at 6:15 p.m. as a field of nine maidens 3-years-old and up travel a one-turn mile over Big Sandy which is topped by a pair of Cox-trained contenders in Global Stage and First Money.
Gary and Mary West's Global Stage, a 4-year-old Street Sense colt, will stretch out after posting strong Beyers in a pair of six-furlong sprints at Oaklawn Park [87] and Keeneland [88]. Calumet Farm's First Money, a City of Light sophomore, made his first two starts at Aqueduct Racetrack, finishing a pacesetting third in a one-turn mile maiden before landing a fading fifth in a nine-furlong route last out. The Brown-trained Ocasek will look to let the good times roll at second asking after a good second on debut in March at the Big A to the well-regarded Harrodsburg.
Free Equibase past performances for the Cross Country Pick 5 sequence will be available for download at https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/cross-country-wagers.
America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the spring/summer meet at Belmont Park on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.
NYRA Bets is the best way to bet every race of the Belmont spring/summer meet. Available to horse players nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.
Cross Country Pick 5 – Saturday, May 20
Leg A: Churchill Downs, Race 8 – ALW (4:22 p.m. Eastern)
Leg B: Monmouth Park, Race 9 – ALW (4:35 p.m.)
Leg C: Belmont Park, Race 10 – AOC (5:43 p.m.)
Leg D: Churchill Downs, Race11 – G3 Louisville (5:58 p.m.)
Leg E: Belmont Park, Race 11 – MSW (6:15 p.m.)
The post Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5 Features Action From Belmont, Churchill, Monmouth appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Preakness Preview: Mage Evolves From Underdog To Target
Onward to Baltimore! Here are the GI Preakness S. entrants listed in “likeliest winner” order.
1) Mage
GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage won't be a heavy favorite on Saturday. In fact, he projects as the possible second choice in the betting based on the “fresh competition” angle in a Preakness that will feature no other starters who ran in the 18-horse Derby.
Pari-mutuel value notwithstanding, a Preakness victory is within the grasp of this white-blazed, chestnut son of Good Magic ($235,000 KEESEP; $290,000 EASMAY). He's a lighter-framed colt who might not have taken the pounding that a bigger runner would have in a demanding race like the Derby. And in the eight-horse Preakness, he figures to be more in touch with the pace, and will likely not have to give up as much real estate (four wide on the far turn before floating to the eight path) as he did in the Derby.
We've now seen Mage uncork two consecutive, sustained, late-race bids against Grade I competition. One was a slightly premature move in the GI Curlin Florida Derby that catapulted him to the lead, only to be reeled in by the vastly more experienced divisional champ Forte (Violence). The other was a more measured move under Javier Castellano in the Kentucky Derby in which Mage went from 11th to second between the five-sixteenths and the three-sixteenths poles before zeroing in on a tiring (but not quitting) leader while being kept to task under hand-hustling though the final furlong and a half.
Mage's 105 Beyer Speed Figure stands out as at least seven points better than any number his rivals have run so far, but it remains to be seen whether that rating holds up. It was 11 points higher than Mage's previous best, and to fully embrace it, you have to have faith that the 2-3-4 finishers in the Derby also realistically upped their Beyers by 4-10-10 points.
2) National Treasure
The draw of post one, the addition of blinkers, and the continued partnership with one of the game's premier front-end riders all point to John Velazquez seeking the lead in the Preakness with National Treasure.
This $500,000 FTSAUG son of Quality Road sports a past-performance block anchored by mid-90s Beyers and company lines featuring heavy divisional hitters. But there are also some gaps in his training, most notably time missed in early March because of a quarter crack that caused this colt to pass on an expected start in the GII San Felipe S.
Although he wasn't finishing with the authority of the top trio in the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby, National Treasure's fourth-place effort there can serve as a useful bridge to a better effort at 1 3/16 miles considering the nine-furlong try was his first race in three months.
Trainer Bob Baffert has saddled seven Preakness winners. Five of them were Kentucky Derby winners. The two who weren't both were beaten Derby favorites: Point Given (2001) and Lookin At Lucky (2010).
National Treasure | Jim McCue
3) First Mission
This Godolphin homebred by Street Sense debuted too late to make a run at Derby qualifying points, so after breaking his maiden at Fair Grounds in start number two on Mar. 18, his connections opted for the 1 1/16-miles GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. at Keeneland.
First Mission went off favored at 2-1, rolling out of the gate alertly, then conceding the lead while attaining inside position. He started to inch up 4 1/2 furlongs out over a short-stretch configuration, then reeled in an opening-up pacemaker who twice put him in tight at the fence through the stretch.
First Mission prevailed by half a length (98 Beyer), but it was the visual appeal of how he refused to be by intimidated by the more experienced Arabian Lion (Justify) that contributed to this colt being bet down to the 6-1 second choice in the Preakness future wager.
On Saturday you can get a better read on the Lexington S. by seeing how 2-5 morning line fave Arabian Lion runs in Pimlico's fourth race, the $100,000 Sir Barton S.
4) Perform
Perform required six starts to break his maiden, but since tasked with two turns for the first time, he's 2-for-2. This $230,000 KEESEP colt by Good Magic has also tangled with Mage once before, having run fourth, beaten 5 1/2 lengths by the eventual Derby winner, when that colt broke his maiden at Gulfstream back on Jan. 28.
Perform broke through with his first victory on the GIII Tampa Bay Derby undercard over one mile 40 yards, and both the second- and fifth-place finishers from that race came back to graduate in their next starts.
Let go at 10-1 odds in the $125,000 Federico Tesio S., Perform dropped out to last and looked unlikely to even hit the board on the far turn, lingering near last after a dueling duo had set a tepid pace and opened up by five turning for home.
Weaving through the pack, jockey Feargal Lynch switched Perform off heels of tiring rivals not once, but three times through the Laurel homestretch, at the three-sixteenth pole, the eighth pole, and again in the run up to the wire. The result was a head victory, and although the 85 Beyer came back a little light, this could be an example of “how he did it” resonating more than “how fast” in terms of overall impression.
“I hope we're finishing with Mage and can outkick him,” said Hall-of-Fame trainer Shug McGaughey. “But I think that just the two turns on the dirt, the distance, the mile and three-sixteenths, the timing is pretty good. We've got plenty of time in between races. He had a good work here last Sunday with Lynch on him, and that's what made up my mind that, along with his owners, to say, 'Let's give it a chance.'”
Red Route One | Jim McCue
5) Red Route One
Red Route One has stamped himself as a capable one-run closer from far back. That means he's going to be picking off horses late, but how many runners he passes in the stretch is largely going to be at the mercy of the pace. The faster they go up front, the better the finish for this Winchell Thoroughbreds homebred.
By Gun Runner out of a Tapit mare (same cross as stablemate and 'TDN Rising Star' Disarm, who was fourth in the Derby), the potential for later development has always figured in Red Route One's progress. Recall that his sire ran third in the 2016 Derby, finished on the board in a series of graded stakes into the summer and fall, but didn't truly burst onto the scene until after the Breeders' Cup, when he won the GI Clark H., and then seven of his eight final races against top-class competition.
Red Route One has run respectably over firm and good turf, plus sloppy and fast dirt, so he handles various types of footing quite well. He went 7 1/2 months between his first and second lifetime victories, but closed with abandon to score in the $200,000 Bath House Row S. at Oaklawn, which was the Plan B option after failing to make the qualifying points cut for the Derby.
6) Blazing Sevens
Blazing Sevens ($140,000 KEEJAN; $225,000 FTSAUG), the third son of Good Magic entered in this Preakness field of eight, is the real handicapping conundrum among the trio. He hasn't won since the Oct. 1 GI Champagne S., yet his last two efforts have a “can't be as bad as they look” vibe about them.
Through his first five career tries, Blazing Sevens won twice and was beaten by champ Forte the other three times. Racing for the first time since the Breeders' Cup in the GII Fountain of Youth S., this colt got pinballed early and was never a factor, finishing eighth while beaten 26 lengths.
Stretched to nine furlongs in the Apr. 8 GI Toyota Blue Grass S., Blazing Sevens ran a so-so third, with the impression of that result blunted by the arresting stretch battle of the two dominant horses who finished six lengths ahead of him.
Blazing Sevens qualified for the Derby based on points, but was withdrawn by trainer Chad Brown to instead aim for the Preakness. Those skip-the-Derby tactics worked well for Brown in 2017 and 2022, when he won Baltimore's big race after opting out of Louisville with Cloud Computing and Early Voting, respectively.
Bettors who had a nose for that trend sniffed out 21-1 odds in the Preakness future wager, which is significantly higher than the 6-1 morning line ranking for Blazing Sevens.
Blazing Sevens | Jim McCue
7) Chase the Chaos
Chase the Chaos (Astern {Aus}) started his career in Minnesota, winning at Canterbury on the grass before running credibly over Tapeta at Golden Gate Fields in early winter.
One of his two wins there, in the Feb. 11 El Camino Real Derby (lifetime best 82 Beyer), gave him an automatic berth into the Preakness. But this $10,000 KEENOV gelding has been seventh and eighth in two starts since then.
He was outgunned in his only lifetime try over fast dirt in the Mar. 4 GII San Felipe S. at Santa Anita, then was the beaten 5-2 fave when returning to Golden Gate for the Apr. 29 California Derby.
8) Coffeewithchris
The Preakness is always a little more interesting with a Maryland-bred long shot in the mix, and Coffeewithchris fits the bill as this year's local hopeful after having sold for $2,000 as an EASOCT yearling.
This gelding has been steadily competing in the series of sophomore stakes on the Maryland circuit, and he most recently raced to the front in the moderate-paced $125,000 Federico Tesio S., where he held well under pressure until upper stretch before regressing to fifth.
But they'll be going a bit quicker in the Preakness, and the 88-85-82 downward arc of the last three Beyers for Coffeewithchris doesn't bode well for his chances.
His sire, Ride on Curlin, finished second in the 2014 Preakness at 10-1 odds behind California Chrome. He competed in all three Triple Crown races (7th, 2nd, 11th), yet concluded his 22-race career never having won beyond six furlongs.
The post Preakness Preview: Mage Evolves From Underdog To Target appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
